Audio 4:24
Snooker king comes home for local tournament

Emily BourkeUpdated
Mon Jul 08 13:31:00 EST 2013

Australia's own world snooker champion is back on home-turf, and this time he's sporting the world number crown. Neil Robertson has just taken out the Wuxi Classic in China, but this week he has his eyes on the local prize at the Australian Open in Victoria. Competition will be stiff with eight of the top 16 snooker players in world vying for the 2013 trophy and the $400,000 in prize money.

Transcript

ELEANOR HALL: He mightn't be a household name, but Neil Robertson is among Australia's most elite professional sportsmen.

He's the first Australian to win the Snooker Masters, and he's the most successful professional player from outside the UK.

Robertson has just won the Wuxi Classic in China and this week he has his eyes on the local prize at the Australian Open in Victoria.

Emily Bourke has our report.

(Theme from 'Pot Black')

EMILY BOURKE: It's a world away from Pot Black and the days of Eddie Charlton's masterful trick shots.

The modern face of snooker is Melbourne-born Neil Roberston.

SNOOKER COMMENTARY: With a rocket about to take off into a storm of thunder generated from Down Under - oh yes, the countdown is almost complete for O'Sullivan against Roberts.

The 31-year-old has just taken out the Wuxi Classic in China, which crowned him world number one.

NEIL ROBERSTON: I am based in Cambridge, in the UK, because most of the tournaments are either in the UK or situated around Europe.

Yeah, I'd say I'm pretty well known in the UK, but I'd probably say more so in China, for sure.

EMILY BOURKE: Neil Robertson got the taste for the game as a young boy playing in his father's snooker room.

NEIL ROBERTSON: I loved playing things like basketball and Aussie rules and cricket and stuff like that, but snooker soon became the sport that I was definitely the best at, and possibly had the most talent for.

I just enjoy potting balls. Every ball you pot seems to be a bit of an achievement. Then when you start to improve, you start to get better and better, the more you sort of enjoy it.

So I think that's probably where the initial enjoyment came from.

My highest break is a 147, which is the highest you can do - it's potting all 15 reds with all blacks, and then clearing up the colours from yellow to black.

EMILY BOURKE: How did you feel after that?

NEIL ROBERTSON: I made my first one when I was 17, and yeah, it was an amazing feeling, yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, 17 I was, when I made that.

EMILY BOURKE: Now back at home, he's getting ready to face some stiff competition at the Australian Snooker Goldfields Open.

NEIL ROBERTSON: Nothing sort of bothers me too much, especially in tournaments. I mean, you can't give anything away. If you give your opponent any sort of edge whatsoever, it can turn a match around, so it's very important to stay pretty cool under pressure.

EMILY BOURKE: But staying cool isn't easy.

NEIL ROBERTSON: A few players try a few things. Sometimes players leave their chalk on the table, just in a really annoying way, basically just about where your hand is going to go. so yeah, there's a couple of players that do that just to be annoying.

EMILY BOURKE: How much of it is psychological?

NEIL ROBERTSON: At the top of the game, if two players are evenly matched, then who's mentally stronger can be all the difference, and that's probably what separates the consistent tournament winners from the guys who make a lot of quarter and semi-finals.

EMILY BOURKE: Do you have to take special care of your hands at all?

NEIL ROBERTSON (laughing): Yes. The hands and the eyes are probably the two most important things, I suppose.

Yeah, we're told to be pretty careful. There was a couple of incidences where players were playing football in China where one player, while playing soccer, was standing in goal and a player kicked the ball and actually broke another players wrist - he just kicked it into his wrist, and it just bent backwards, and then he broke his wrist - and obviously had to pull out of that tournament and the next one.

And there was also a player last year playing tennis, injured his ankle and had to hobble around the table in his socks, and he also got beat.

So it's very important to not do anything, stuff like that.

EMILY BOURKE: Eight of the world's top 16 players will be vying for the Australian Open trophy and the $400,000 in prize money.

Regardless of any home-ground advantage, Robertson will stick to his usual pre-tournament ritual.

NEIL ROBERTSON: I always set up the same practice exercises when I get to the venue.

If I win a match, I always try and wear the same shirt again. So I'll get it washed and I'll keep just - I could have three, four, or five shirts for a tournament - but if I play well in a match, and it's with a particular shirt, then I'll make sure to wear that shirt every match I play.

EMILY BOURKE: Life on the professional snooker circuit is increasingly hectic, but Neil Robertson still spends some of his time playing socially.

NEIL ROBERTSON: In Cambridge, where I live in the UK, there's kind of like a nineball club which is at a bar and yeah, so sometimes, a couple of friends and I will go down.

I mean, I used to play a little bit of nineball, just mucking around while we have a few drinks, then go out into town or something.

EMILY BOURKE: Do the locals know who you are?

NEIL ROBERTSON: Yeah, yeah. I wouldn't be able to hustle anyone, if that's what you're getting at.

ELEANOR HALL: That's Neil Robertson, world number one snooker champion. Emily Bourke with that report.